Two brilliant games and wins have pushed Meenakshi Subbaraman of Air India, Chennai into sole lead in the 36th National Women Premier Chess Championship being sponsored and held at St Joseph's College of Engineering in Chennai on December 6.
In round four, Meenakshi beat the defending champion Kruttika Nadig and in round five she powered over two-time former champion Tania Sachdev to swing into sole lead with 4.5/5. Six rounds are still to be played.
Meenakshi lost a pawn but kept the pressure on the black king and her attack won her an exchange. Her 40th move should be seen on the chess board and is hard to explain in words. It was a brilliant rook sacrifice. Meenakshi, 28, has not won the National Women so far. Her sister Vijayalakshmi has won the title six times which is a record.
Top seed Dronavalli Harika of Andhra Pradesh is in clear second place on four points. She was held to a fighting draw by Kiran Manisha Mohanty of Orissa. Four players share the third place on 3.5 points and it includes: P. Priya (TN),
Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa), Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Ori) and Mary Ann Gomes (WB).
Bhakti Kulkarni shocked Soumya Swaminathan after the latter accepted a dangerous pawn and faced the consequences of a discovered attack which resulted in loss of a queen for a rook and knight. Competition in chess is high in India and only
here our national junior champion can defeat the world junior champion.
The results (round five): Kiran Mohanty (Ori) 3.5 drew with D. Harika (AP) 4, S. Meenakshi (AI) 4.5 bt Tania Sachdev (Del) 3, Bhakti Kulkarni (Goa) 3.5 bt Soumya Swaminathan (Mah) 3, Eesha Karavade (Mah) 3 drew with Kruttika Nadig (Mah) 3, Mary Ann Gomes (WB) 3.5 bt Sai Meera (IB) 2.5, Pon N. Krithikha (TN) 2 lost to P. Priya (TN) 3.5, Swati Mohota (WB) 2.5 drew with Aarthie Ramaswamy (AI) 2.5, Amruta Mokal (Mah) 2 drew with Bindu Saritha (LIC) 2.5, C.H. Savetha (TN) 2 drew with Nisha Mohota (PSPB) 2, A. Sithalatchumi (TN) 1.5 lost to Supriya Maji (WB) 2.5, J. Saranya (TN) 2 bt Pallabi Roy (WB) 1.5, C. Sahajasri (AP) 1.5 drew with A. Akshaya (TN) 1.5, R. Bharathi (TN) 2 - bye
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